The Best Week Ever – The unframed photo

A little more than a month ago a recieved the biggest surprise in my life (so far at least). Hubby and I where eating a nice pizza, watching some animé and the intercom went off.

I almost didn’t get up thinking it was a mistake, but something in my gut made me approach the little camera, and my father’s face was there…smiling… with his worn-out blue cap and yellow t-shirt.

I seriously thought I was having a stroke.

Story? My mom and dad came as a surprise and stayed here, in Barcelona, for one amazing, perfect week.

I got the days off from work and spent the best week ever. Between strolls to the beach, pinchos, lots of eating, photos and just spending time together, it was perfect.

 

These photos that I took that week made me realize something. When we take pictures, is not always about capturing what’s in front of us. Sometimes is about the people behind the lens, its about what we are feeling when we press the shutter.

Somehow the image per se is not framed in what we see.

When I see these images I feel the way I was feeling when I took them. It’s beautiful and so unique. Feels very personal in some way…

Does this happen to you?

The Hug

Yesterday I was on the bus on my way to work. Everything was pretty much the same as every other day, except for one thing. For some reason I was more observer than other days. I was very aware of everything around me and my head was in a very creative/imaginative place.

I was really seeing and suddendly there was something that caught all of my attention.

From a window on the bus I saw this two people standing in front of a building on the sidewalk. They were hugging.

She had a long grey nitted sweater that look at least one size bigger than hers; he had an orange one. They looked like father and daughter and he was conforting her.

She was just completely sinked in his arms while he slowly passed his hand up and down through her back…up and down…up and down. He had this look in his face that made me understand he was in pain for her pain.

I dind’t get to see her face but I could notice she was really sad.

It looked like it’ll last forever, like it was an image frozen in time and space.

For me it feels like they are still there, immersed in this intimate, timeless hug.

I hope their are doing better today. And for you, who are reading this, I send you a big hug. May all of your worries go away and you find peace and quiet.

No photos today. Just a mental image of The Hug.

The beauty of a rainy day

Nothing like lighting a couple of candles, listen to some mellow jazz and sit down to write on a gray and rainy day in September. And, even if the flu attacks, for me, there ir nothing as relaxing as this.

And lately cloudy and rainy days have become a common landscape. Personally, this used to be a problem because I never felt in the mood to take pictures in wheather like this.

When I do a mental recap of my photos I realize there is a pattern. I always tend to take pictures of bright days, with intnse or soft light, but always cheerful and sunny. I realized that I have always felt unmotivated to photograph in cloud , rainy and gray enviroments.

This got to a level that, if it was necessary to go on out in this weather, I didn’t even take my camera with me, thinking I would have nothing to capture and,  that even if I did, I would be disappointed with the results. What a mistake I was making. Recently, I went out of my comfort zone and I’m so glad I did it.

I decided to take my camera for a walk with me to the park on a gray afternoon, when the clouds had kidnapped the sun and cool breeze presaged the coming of the rain. These are some of the pictures I took .

I like how these photos turned out, contrary to what I expected. They are far away from the regular kind of calm and sunny days pictures I take, and I love them. I feel there is something special in them. Soft colors, pale light, the deserted park; put together, it has a unique charm.

I liked to try a different style of photography. I got out of my commonplace and dared to do something I had never tried before  with my pictures, maybe just for fear that it wouldn’t turn out well. I’m definitely going to begin to practice more photography with this style.

Now I feel and see the beauty of a rainy day. And this is something else I’ve learned through photography, there is beauty in everything around us, maybe it will take us some time and effort to realize, but there is.